Syria has begun moving parts of its vast arsenal of chemical weapons out of storage facilities, U.S. officials said, in a development that has alarmed many in Washington.

The country's undeclared stockpiles of sarin nerve agent, mustard gas and cyanide have long worried U.S. officials and their allies in the region, who have watched anxiously amid the conflict in Syria for any change in the status or location of the weapons.

1991 : (SYRIA : -——— WMD-CHEM) In 1991, the Syrian Health Ministry closed down five pharmaceuticals plants, including one in Homs, during what Western intelligence agencies determined were tests of chemical weapons. -—— “Missile factory blows up in Syria ,” SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM , Wednesday, April 3, 2002

SEPTEMBER 2002? : (MIDDLE EAST : FORMER US SENATOR JAMES ABOUREZK MEETS SYRIAN PRESIDENT ASSAD, OTHER SYRIAN OFFICIALS) A former U.S. senator, Abourezk has met with high-ranking Syrian officials, including President Bashar Assad. He said today [?]: “The proposal that Syria is reportedly putting forward at the U.N. for a Mideast free of weapons of mass destruction is a very good one.”.-—— “JAMES ABOUREZK,” jim@abourezklaw.com, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2952159.stm

SEPTEMBER? xx, 2002 mid : (MIDDLE EAST : FORMER US SENATOR JAMES ABOUREZK IS PART OF A FOUR-PERSON DELEGATION THAT TRAVELED TO SYRIA & IRAQ- NOTE THAT US SENATOR TOM DASCHLE GOT HIS START BY WORKING FOR ABOUREZK) He was ... part of a four-person delegation that traveled to Syria and Iraq in 2002. - “Judge: Abourezk can sue Web site,” AP, March 21, 2004, http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2004/03/21/news/state/state03.txt

MAY 2001 : (MIDDLE EAST : IRAQ & SYRIA REOPEN DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS IN EACH OTHER’S COUNTRIES ; IRAQ MAY HAVE MOVED SOME WMD TO SYRIA -—See WMD) In May 2001, Iraq and Syria reopened diplomatic missions in each others capitals, and there have been unconfirmed reports that Iraq might have moved some WMD equipment into Syria to avoid detection by UNMOVIC. -—— “Issue Brief for Congress, Iraq: Weapons Threat, Compliance, Sanctions, and U.S. Policy, Updated March 10, 2003, Kenneth Katzman, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, document from the “Congressional Research Service,” http://www.iraqresearch.com/html/page_53.html.

2001 FALL BEFORE 9/11: (MIDDLE EAST : DAMASCUS, SYRIA : REPORTedly BIN LADEN’S WIVES AND CHILDREN ARE IN SYRIA [PRIOR TO ATTACKS ON THE USA]) Finally, Israeli intelligence reported that several of Osama bin Laden’s wives and children were housed in Damascus, Syria prior to 911, and then moved to covert locations shortly before the attacks. ——Syria - Terror/Iraqi Ally ,http://www.efreedomnews.com/News Archive/Syria/syria_terroriraq_ally.htm

Israel Preparing for Action in Syria, Says Former Mossad Chief - July 13, 2012 - Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom said on Thursday that Israel is preparing for the possibility of military action in Syria, in case its chemical weapons were to end up in the hands of Hizbullah or other terrorist organizations in the region.

The conventional wisdom should be that we cannot exclude a non-conventional attack on Israel, he said. We would have to pre-empt in order to prevent it. We need to be prepared to launch even military attacks... and military attacks mean maybe a deterioration to war.

A top IDF officer said recently that Israel is in preparations for the possibility of war and in the midst of deployment with the situation in Syria in mind.

The greatest challenge facing Division 36, which is placed in the Golan, is the possibility of facing a surprise attack, said the officer, Brig. Gen. Tamir Heiman, Commander of Division 36. The biggest concern is a combined terror attack and we are preparing for this in the Golan area.

So is Israel going to “S$$t” or get off the pot?? They been talking for some time now about how they we’re going to have to do bomb this or preemptive that. I have no doubt in Israel’s ability to defend itself but its past time to put these words to action. I’m starting to think that Israel is going to have to preemptively nuke a lot of the region straight to hell in order to make sure they are safe.

Any recent updates on the investigation of the reported Iraqi-Syrian chemical weapons transfer from 2003? The last I saw on that was a huge document dump of records the U.S. had acquired that a poster here on FR was working through translating and analyzing, but I never did see what the analysis of the documents turned up.

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